Shall we dance?
by snitch
Summary: All right. Not only is this my Christmas special, this is also my 30th fic! Wow, I didn't realize I've written that much..Hmm..Well, anyway, I hope you enjoy this. It's a quiet story with what I think is a rather touching ending. R/R!


~*Author's Note*~  
Here's my bit of fluff this time :)  
It's set during Ron and Hermione's seventh year. Remember! 7th.   
Oh and while I was writing this fic, I realized something along the way.  
Ron should just give Hermione Sudafed!! Yes, Veralidaine. Your naughty little cold came into mind when I was writing this, so now I dedicate this to you.  
And to everyone who reads this fic, Merry Christmas!! AND! *Special* Thanks to isolemnlysweariamup2nogood and MeganT for the much appreciated help in beta reading my other story.  
Ok ,here we go.  
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Hermione rolled over in her bed, and stretched a stiff arm out from under her blanket.  
  
"Urgh...must.. get tissue.." she croaked, squinting her eyes to see in the dim light of her dorm.  
  
Hermione felt around the side of her bed and pulled the strategically positioned box of tissue towards her, with the tips of her fingers.  
  
"Stupid cold.." muttered Hermione moodily as she sat up and blew her stuffy nose.  
  
It was Christmas eve and puffs of snow were falling all around the castle, frosting the windows and garnishing the trees.  
Hermione looked out one of the tall windows, across Parvati's bed, and sighed.  
  
'I should be out of bed right now,' thought Hermione glumly, 'I should be in my dress robes and having fun with Harry and Ron..and everyone else at Hogsmeade..'  
  
Hermione pushed away her thick blanket, and felt the cold wind inside the room brush against her bare legs and fore arms, as she stood up.  
The room was empty.   
It's only occupant being Hermione herself and her bandy legged cat, Crookshanks, who, at the moment was stretched out on Lavender's empty bed.  
Hermione took a few cautious steps from her bed and pulled on a spare bathrobe that was hanging on the back of a chair.Her nose was still stuffy and she began to wonder how she had ever been able to breathe while she was asleep.  
  
"Now aren't I the luckiest person in the world.." mused Hermione sarcastically, as she stepped in front of the ornate table mirror by the window and gazed at her face.  
  
Her cheeks were slightly flushed from her temperature and her bushy brown   
hair seemed to have taken on a mind of it's own, as strands of it pestered her face in a very untamed way.  
Hermione let out a grunt of exasperation and sat down in front of the mirror, helplessly resigned to her very dismal and lonely Christmas eve.  
How she wished she hadn't caught her dratted ailment..how she wished she could have gone with everyone else.  
  
Magic all around her and yet there wasn't a single charm for the common cold.  
  
"I'm sorry dear, but you'll just have to sleep through it. And that means no dances and anything else of the kind for you."   
  
The school matron's pacifying voice resounded in her head as she blankly stared out at the cold white world outside the window.  
  
  
"You mean I can't go to the dance?"   
  
"Yes."   
  
"But...that's not fair.." whined Hermione like a little girl.  
  
"Oh come on, Hermione, you know it's for your own good," said Ron, " besides, what's the use of coming with us, if you're just going to feel bad..you wouldn't have fun either way."  
  
"But.." groaned Hermione sadly.  
  
"Ron's right. Just sleep in tonight and hopefully you'll be perfectly fine tomorrow and we can have fun." said Harry.  
  
  
'Sleep in..Yeah, how am I supposed to sleep in, when I've got a sore throat, a stuffy nose and a nice headache coming along..' thought Hermione sourly.  
  
Hermione looked around the dim room. Brushes and ribbons were scattered all over Parvati's bed and just about a dozen dressrobes decorated Lavender's.  
Hermione's bed, on the other hand, was a very stark contrast compared to the other girl's. For while Lavender and Parvati's screamed "We're going out tonight!", Hermione's seemed to state,   
" Don't come near me."  
  
What a lovely Christmas this was turning out to be thought Hermione, standing up from her chair and heading back to her bed, careful not to tread on any sort of nail polish bottles or eyelash curlers lurking around on the floor.  
  
Hermione slipped out of her bathrobe and layed back in her warm bed, adjusting her pillows behind her head in the process.  
The stuffiness in her nose began to haunt her once more, and Hermione found herself stretching out an arm from under her blanket just like before, in search of her beloved box of tissue.  
Just then, a thud, followed by loud scuffling noises came from behind the door.  
Crookshanks sprung up from Lavender's bed and fixed it's big yellow eyes on the door.  
  
" Who's there?" said Hermione sitting up,and pulling her knees to her chest.  
  
" It's me, Harry..," came a voice, " Ron's here too. Can we come in?"   
  
A smile immediately found it's way to Hermione's lips, and she called back to them, somewhat hoarsely,   
  
"Sure."  
  
The door slowly swing open, and Harry stepped in, complete with with his trademark bottlegreen dressrobes and three small bottles of butterbeer in his arms.  
Harry spotted Hermione and grinned at her miserable state.  
  
"Hey.." said Harry walking over to her bed, " How are you feeling?"   
  
" Not good.." replied Hermione, unconsciously running her fingers through her hair, "Why are you here, and where's Ron?"  
  
" I'm right here."   
  
Hermione turned towards the open door and found Ron smiling back at her. His red hair glinting strangely in the light that shone behind him  
  
" Hi there.." said Hermione, " You look good in your new robes, Ron."   
  
"Thanks. Here, these are for you." replied Ron, pulling a bouquet of flowers from behind his back.  
  
"Oh, thanks Ron...I'd tell you they smell nice, but well, my nose isn't working properly right now, so.."   
  
Ron smiled back and pulled a chair towards Hermione's bed.  
  
" That's all right." he said.  
  
"So, what are you two doing here? " asked Hermione looking at the two boys in front of her.  
  
"Well, we thought you could do with some cheering up.." explained Ron,  
  
" And maybe a few sips of these..." added Harry pushing one of the butterbeers towards Hermione.  
  
" Thanks Harry, but, I doubt I'd be able to taste it..." replied Hermione.  
  
" Your cold must be really bad if you can't taste anything. Are you sure someone didn't hex you ?" asked Harry, while he gingerly felt Hermione's forehead with the back of his hand.  
  
"Harry there's no such thing as a cold hex...," said Hermione, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Right." shrugged Harry, "Well, look, I have to go...Ginny's waiting for me back at the dance. Don't worry, Ron'll keep you company, right Ron?"  
  
Ron nodded in his chair.  
  
"Yeah, go ahead Harry, we'll be fine."   
  
Harry stood up from Hermione's bed and patted Hermione on her head teasingly.  
  
"There there, we'll have fun tomorrow.."   
  
"Oh, stop it Harry." said Hermione pushing his hand away.  
  
Harry grinned, and after handing Ron the last two bottles of butterbeer, quietly strode out of the room, accidentally stepping on Crookshanks tail on the way.  
  
Hermione turned to look at Ron.  
  
"Don't you want to go back to the dance..?" she asked, punctuating the question with a small sneeze.  
  
"No." answered Ron, as a sulky looking Crookshanks clawed at the leg of Ron's chair.   
  
"Why not? I'm sure it'd be lots more fun than being stuck here with me."   
  
" Hermione, you know I'm not one for dancing and stuff like that."  
  
"Yes, but are you really going to spend your Christmas eve watching me sneeze and cough?" questioned Hermione incredulously.  
  
" Yes." said Ron matter of factly,. " Do you want to go down? It's warmer there."   
  
Hermione glanced at the open door behind Ron, and out at the bright common room beyond it.   
It seemed so warm and inviting, and a faint cracking, whizzing sound suggested that a roaring fire was still burning.  
  
"Coming?" asked Ron, holding out a bathrobe for Hermione to draw around her..  
  
"Yes..." said Hermione peeling off her heavy blanket and taking the robe from Ron's hand.  
  
" What about that? Are you sure you can survive without it?" said Ron, pointing at the box of tissue beside Hermione.  
  
" I think I can for a few hours.." said Hermione grinning.  
  
  
The two walked out of the room and down the wide steps to the commons, where they sat themselves by a table near the fire. Ron sat across Hermione, in a tattered old armchair whose arms had been worn away so much that the wood underneath was partially exposed.  
The chair, stodgy as it was, had the strange effect of making Ron's new dark blue robes stand out, and Hermione stared at Ron thinking to herself how handsome he looked in his new robes, when she realized that Ron had just came from a dance.  
A very formal dance.   
With prettty girls walking around giggling and laughing, their hairs tied up neatly in ribbons and buns, and their dressrobes fluttering behind them in various patterns and color ...  
  
And here she was, Hermione Granger.  
Dressed in nothing but a bathrobe and her pajamas, looking like a hurricane had just blown   
over her, with her messy brown hair scattered all over her face and her red stuffy nose.  
  
' This is just wonderful, Ron probably thinks I look like a mess...' thought Hermione, as she turned away and pretended to stare out of the window, so that Ron wouldn't notice her fixing her hair ...  
  
" Hermione, you shouldn't sit too close to the window, you know, it's cold." said Ron.  
  
" What? " jumped Hermione,   
  
" I said, you shouldn't sit too close to the window because it's cold and bad for you." repeated Ron, lazily twirling around his wand in between his fingers.  
  
"Oh... right, " muttered Hermione, turning back to face Ron.  
  
Hermione crossed her arms and pulled her legs up in her chair, and tried to ignore the fact that Ron was watching her every move.  
  
' Why is he looking at me that way? '  
  
' Do I look *that* bad?'   
  
Nervous thoughts raced back and forth Hermione's mind, causing her to shake her bushy head.  
  
"What's wrong?" questioned Ron, looking concerned.  
  
"Nothing..it's just..Oh well, it's not important, " said Hermione glancing up, " So. What did you do at the dance?"  
  
" Nothing much...Lavender asked me if I'd dance with her, and I agreed..although, come to think of it, that wasn't a very smart thing to do." said Ron grinning.  
  
" Why? Did you see another girl you wanted to dance with?" teased Hermione.   
  
She had finally forgotten about her dishevelled appearance and managed to utter the sentence, without looking away from Ron.  
  
" No it's not that. I couldn't care less about the girls there, it's just that I was watching Seamus and Lavender dance, and poor old Seamus got his foot stomped on all throughout the song. Why, if that was the case, then who knows what she'd do to *my* foot!"   
  
Hermione burst out laughing, as funny images of Ron and Seamus hopping up and down on the dance floor clutching a swollen foot drifted into her head.  
  
" But, you did say yes, didn't you? I mean, you didn't just turn her down right there, did you?" snickered Hermione.  
  
" Yeah I danced with her... didn't have much of a choice anyway." said Ron, pretending to massage his shin,   
  
" And she just about softened up every bone I got down there.."  
  
" Oh Ron, maybe it was your fault too." said Hermione sobering.  
  
Ron raised his eyebrows disbelievingly, " My fault? Well, I think I can dance pretty decently. At least better than Harry."  
  
" Oh really..." said Hermione defiantly.  
  
" Yes, really. In fact, I'll prove it to you. "   
  
Ron stood up from his chair and boldly marched over to Hermione.   
Hermione froze in her seat.  
Was he going to do what she thought he was going to do?  
  
Now?  
  
Her worries were confirmed when Ron reached her chair and held out his hand,   
  
"Shall we dance?" he said sincerely.   
  
Hermione found herself panicking at such a simple question, and she quickly blurted out an excuse,   
  
"What, here? Now? But I'm not dressed right! "  
  
" Why not? And you look fine. Most girls in their right minds would do anything to wear a bathrobe." laughed Ron.  
  
" Now come on. I tell you, I'm really not that bad." said Ron, offering his large hand to Hermione one more time.  
  
" Ok, just don't get mad at me if I sneeze on your robes or something.." said Hermione as she took Ron's hand and stood up.  
  
Ron put his arms around Hermione and swayed slowly to an imaginative tune.  
The cackling sounds of the fire echoed behind them as Hermione tried to ease her nervousness in Ron's arms.  
  
" It's funny dancing with out music," said Hermione.  
  
" Yeah..well, you just have to use your imagination." said Ron quietly.  
  
" Harry and them must be having lots of fun, back at Hogsmeade by now.."   
  
" I guess so, but I think it's much better here." said Ron.  
  
Hermione looked up at him, and saw that he was staring down at her with his warm brown eyes.  
Ron quickly tore away his gaze from Hermione and turned his head towards the window.  
And Hermione noticed that the tips of his ears were now a slight shade of pink.  
  
" Thanks for keeping me company, " said Hermione, after a while.  
  
" Your welcome." replied Ron.  
  
" I thought I was going to spend my Christmas eve, buried under a blanket and feeling miserable for myself.." confessed Hermione.  
  
" You do know that Harry and me---"  
  
"Harry and I."   
  
"Er, yeah, ---That Harry and I wouldn't let you spend it alone, don't you? " said Ron as he and Hermione revolved around a few chairs to a cool shadowy space, in between two very tall windows.  
  
"Yes..I guess." answered Hermione slowly.  
  
" Hey look, the snow's stopped." said Ron, jerking his head towards the window.  
  
The snow did stop snowing. And Hermione saw the vast white carpet, covering every inch of the grounds, eerily reflect the moonlight, making the grounds glow with a bluish tinge.  
  
" It looks so peaceful outside..." said Hermione, temporarily letting go of Ron's hand and tucking a tuft of brown hair behind her ears.  
  
Ron didn't answer her, but Hermione felt his grip on her hand tighten, while they continued to dance slowly.  
Hermione wondered what was going on inside Ron's head.  
He didn't seem himself that night. He was quieter and a little bit more serious than usual. Hermione sorted out her thoughts, and after a few practice runs in her head asked Ron,   
  
" Ron, you're awfully quiet...it's not like you. Is there something wrong?"   
  
" No, there's nothing wrong. I'm just trying to concentrate on not squashing your feet." laughed Ron,  
  
"So you aren't as good as you say!" exclaimed Hermione.  
  
" Oh yes, just rub it in, and mock me a little bit more will you. " said Ron sarcastically.  
  
" You aren't a very good dancer like---"  
  
" I was being sarcastic! " huffed Ron.  
  
Hermione grinned at him, and said,  
  
" I know that."   
  
A few more silent moments passed.   
Neither of the two uttered a word as they danced around tables and chairs all over the common room.  
This was the strangest Christmas eve Hermione had ever experienced, because for one thing, she was spending it in her pajamas dancing around the common room with a boy she constantly had a row with.  
On the other hand though, Hermione thought that she really wouldn't have it any other way.  
  
Or maybe that particular thought was just a fuzzy side effect of her cold..  
  
" I have a gift for you. " grinned Ron nervously.   
  
" You do? " said Hermione.  
  
" I do, " assured Ron, and he let go of Hermione and pulled her along to one of the tall windows.  
  
" It should be out right now.. ," he muttered, still not letting go of Hermione's hand.  
  
" What is it? " asked Hermione curiously.  
  
" You'll find out soon.." was all Ron said, when he suddenly raised his hand and pointed at the inky dark sky.  
  
" There it is..," he said.  
  
Hermione followed Ron's finger with her eyes, and saw the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.  
Up in the dark sky, dozens of glowing stars streamed across like a giant flag.   
Twinkling and sparkling their merry yuletide greetings along the way.  
  
" That's so beautiful..," murmured Hermione.  
  
" Once in fifty years..Sorry I couldn't wrap it up and tack a card onto it." smiled Ron.  
  
" It's a wonderful gift just the it is the way it is." said Hermione.  
  
" Just like you."   
  
" What?" said Hermione whirling around to face Ron.  
  
" I said, 'Just like you' " said Ron grinning and turning pink.  
  
" Oh.."   
  
Hermione gave herself a hearty mental slap, when she realized how stupid that must have sounded.   
Though Ron didn't seem to mind, and continued,  
  
" You're my Christmas shooting star, that comes along every fifty years, and doesn't need to be wrapped because you'd still look beautiful anyway. Stuffy nose, bushy hair and bathrobe and all. "   
  
Ron said all of this very solemnly, and Hermione felt hot beads of tears begin to run down her cheeks.  
  
" Oh, wait, don't cry.." said Ron, fishing around in his pockets for a suitable handkerchief.  
  
" Ron..," squeaked Hermione, as she wiped away her tears with her hand, " Thank you...you're my star too. "  
  
Ron grinned amusedly as he watch Hermione fight back her tears and smile at him.  
The shower of shooting stars outside continued to flow, across the great big sky, and Ron and Hermione bathed in it's heavenly light by the window.  
  
" That shower's still going to go on for a few more minutes, " remarked Ron, " And you still owe me an unfinished dance."  
  
"Shall we dance, Hermione?" asked Ron, extending his hand.  
  
" Yes, I'd love to." said Hermione, sniffling softly, pushing back her hair behind her ears.  
  
Ron took Hermione's hand and pulled her towards him, holding her against him like a very valuable treasure, as they danced to the rhythm of some imaginary song, under the brilliant starlight.  
  
" This is the strangest Christmas eve I've ever had..but I think it's also the best." whispered Hermione.  
  
" So do I. Merry Christmas, Hermione." answered Ron.  
  
" Merry Christmas to you too."   
  
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Disclaimer: None of them are mine.  
A/N: Did you know, that if a star twinkles at you, it's not a really a star, but a planet nearby?  
Planets can't give out their own light, so technically it isn't a star.  
My science teacher told me that, I thought it was romantic..in my strange odd way. Well I hoped you liked this story.  
R/R please!  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



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